Rob Gronkowski Jokes About ‘Teasing’ Tom Brady Before Joining Bucs

It’s been reported Tom Brady played a big part in bringing Rob Gronkowski out of retirement and onto the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But how exactly did it all go down?

During an appearance Thursday on CBS’ “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” Gronkowski noted he spoke with Brady after the star quarterback signed with the Bucs in free agency. From there, Gronk put his own spin on the tale of how he landed in Tampa Bay, jokingly explaining Brady practically begged him to make a comeback.

“He went through his whole process,” Gronkowski said. “He did what he had to do, then I called him and was like, ‘Ooh, Tampa Bay, baby.’ I was like, ‘How’s the weather down there?’ He was like, ‘Oh, it’s great. It’s fantastic.’ I was like, ‘Oh, man. You know, Tom, I’ve been thinking about football a little bit.’ I’m just teasing with him. I can just tell he’s getting all this excitement. I’m like, ‘Oh, my mom lives down there, too. Like an hour away. It would be great to have a new opportunity.’ All of a sudden he just screams on the phone, ‘Rob! I just want you to come back and play with me!’ I was like, ‘All right, all right. I’ll come back then, Tom. No problem.’ He was crying like, ‘Oh my god. Please come back.’ I was like, wow, he just missed me that much, so I had to come back.”

Considering the successes Brady and Gronk have experienced together, that might not actually be too far from the truth.

Gronkowski still has yet to set up shop in Central Florida ahead of his first season with the Bucs. In turn, he wasn’t able to attend an informal workout earlier in the week featuring Brady and a few other offensive starters, which he clearly was pretty bummed out about.

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